Foundation Seeks Sponsors for Contaminant Removal Project

This is an important issue for the fire service, NFPA’s Susan McKelvey noted March 20.

Mar 23, 2015

NFPA's Susan McKelvey announced March 20 that the Fire Protection Research Foundation is seeking sponsors to support an upcoming project on contaminant removal from firefighters' personal protective equipment. "While general cleaning procedures have been established in NFPA 1851, Standard on Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting, more science is needed to support, clarify and enhance those procedures to ensure optimum contaminant removal," she wrote in an article posted on the NFPA website, adding that the issue is important to the fire service because cancer is a leading concern about firefighters' health, and "is presumably linked to fireground exposures and associated PPE contamination."

She reported the project's opening phase will gather information and data to identify and characterize persistent contaminants in firefighters' PPE. "While NFPA has pledged approximately half the required funding, at least five principal sponsors providing $10K apiece are needed for Phase I to move the initiative forward. (One sponsor has been confirmed to date, but we still need four more.)," she wrote.

Those interested in becoming sponsors should contact Casey Grant, executive director of the foundation, at the email addresss PPECleaning@nfpa.org.

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